Back In School 2012

We made it through another summer in one piece!

I looked forward to this day with great excitement and so did the kids but I will say that when I got back home after dropping them off, I was *slightly* sad. The house was so quiet and it made me miss those big kids of mine. But then I sat down and ate my breakfast in peace while Gunner and Race played and my sadness was done!

Here we are right before we left for school:

Tabby age 9 in 4th grade, Rex 7 in 2nd grade, Ella age 6 in 1st grade. Gunner and Race only wish they were old enough to go!

 

Then I took some pics while they waited to be called in to their classes.

Gunner really wanted to be in Ella's picture. Who am I to deny that cute face of his?

Waterslide Birthday Party

We have lots of July birthdays in our family so every year my mom rents a big water slide and we have a big party to celebrate everyone's birthday.

Little Race loved it!

The kids think it's the coolest thing ever that grandpa slides with them.

My sister made amazing cupcakes! Chocolate with Bacon, Raspberry Cheesecake, and Mountain Dew! They were delicious!

Happy Birthday to both grandmas, Grandpa Geertsen and Gunner!!!

San Diego Vacation 2012 Day 6 and 7

Saturday was our last full day there and what better way to spend our last day in Cali than to go to Legoland? Okay, probably Disneyland. But we didn't have the coin for that place so Legoland it was.

We spent the entire day there from open to close and the kids had a blast. We didn't have time to do everything but we got to do most of the stuff we wanted to do.

Legoland has an aquarium, water park, and regular theme park. Luckily, we were able to get some cheap park hopper tickets and do all three. The aquarium was really neat and I thought the kids would be over it because we had just gone to one the day before but they were still really liked it. The water park was really fun but cold so we didn't spend a lot of time there. The rides and the food was where it was at!

First off was the Legoland aquarium. We did that first because it opened an hour earlier than the rest of the park.

Those are some ginorm crabs!

When that was done, it was time for some rides! Dale and I have a deal. He goes on all the getting wet rides with the kids because I HATE getting my clothes wet and then walking around and I go on all the spinny rides with the kids because they make him super sick. There were some of both kinds at the park so we did lots of switching.

The first ride of the day was a getting wet ride. Dale knew he was up before I said anything. He had to take the kids one at a time because they were too little to ride by themselves.

We even found some rides little Gunny could ride! He adored this airplane ride. We rode it twice.

Apparently, there are some Legoland Princesses. Who knew?

Everywhere you go there are cool things made out of Lego. Like this Chewbacca for instance.

We rode a boat ride that took you around a big lake with all sorts of Lego creations to look at.

Finally a ride Race can do!

Ella is staring me down hard in this picture for some reason. Gunner is done with smiling for the camera.

Super random picture of Lego Mt. Rushmore. Thought it was super cool though.

One of the kids favorite rides was driving Lego cars. They felt so grown up getting to drive on their own.

They had separate areas for big and little kids. One of the highlights of my whole entire trip was watching Gunner try to drive a car. We were dying. The most hilarious thing I ever saw! I only wish I had got it on video. 

One lady who was supposed to be watching all the kids, pretty much had to help only my son the entire time. He just kept on bashing into everything and his little short leg could hardly press the pedal to make it go. 

When the ride was over, the lady unbuckled him and walked away to help other kids and Gunner just buckled himself back in again. I had to run in there and pretty much peel him out of that little car. 

Even though he loved it, I'm pretty sure the Legoland employee would have punched me if I had let Gunner ride again so we moved on.

Tabby waiting to start.

Rex drove like a champ.

Ella, giving it everything she has.

Gunner, waiting to start.

Trying to figure it out.

Heading straight into a curb.

Not wanting to get out.

Here I am taking my turn on a spinny ride with the kids.

Super fun bouncy ride.

Ella really wanted a picture taken with this Lego camel. We made it a group shot.

It wouldn't be a complete success if we didn't get a picture with this guy!

The next day, it was time to pack up all our stuff and go home. We actually did it pretty quickly considering all the crap we had! This year was a trial run and we learned that we for sure didn't need as much stuff as we thought we did! We filled an entire 5x8 Uhaul trailer to the top with all our stuff! We learned we probably needed about half of what we brought!

We took one last group picture as we drove out of the KOA. Tired and dusty, sadly it was time to go.

The trip was perfect! Lots of memories made! Can't wait to go again next year!

San Diego Vacation 2012 Day 4 and 5

Thursday we set off for Mission Beach and then afterwards the boys went to see a Padres game. Didn't get many pictures of that day but I like the ones I got!

Friday was day 5 we went to Birch Aquarium, downtown San Diego, and Seaport Village.

Eating ice cream at Mission Beach. It was impossible to get all the kids to look at the camera!

  

Ella chose "cotton candy" ice cream.  Leave it to her to pick the craziest brightest flavor.

Friday was also Gunners birthday! He turned 3 and I tried to make it seem like it was his special day even though we were camping and super busy with activities. I felt bad and like he got gypped a little because it really didn't seem like it was his birthday. Good thing he only turned 3 and was too little to care anyway! 

I meant to write "Gunner Boy" with red icing on the cake. Looks like I let Gunner try write it himself. But no, that was my fine handiwork.

Big bro helping him blow out the candles.

After the cake we headed off to the aquarium. We were supposed to go to Legoland but there was a hitch in the plans and we put that off till the next day. The kids were bummed to have to wait some more for Legoland but they ended up really liking the aquarium.

Rex, being a ham trying to act surprised.

Giant octopus that grossed me out.

They had a room with a gigantic glass wall where you could just sit and watch the sharks and other kinds of fish. The kids were mesmerized by it. We sat and watched for a long time.

 

Outside there were tide pools where you could touch the sea creatures.

Feeling a starfish.

The view overlooking La Jolla

This isn't the best picture of me but I felt I had to put it in here. There have been no pictures of me up till this point and I wanted to prove I was actually there.

Shark bait!

After the aquarium, we hit up downtown San Diego in the Gaslamp district. Dale and I had been to this Ghirardelli ice cream shop before and we wanted the kids to experience it. Unbelievably yum!

Waiting for the ice cream to get here. Who the heck knows why I didn't take a picture of us with the ice cream when it actually got to our table. Maybe I was too busy stuffing my face.

It was a short drive over to Seaport Village where we walked all around, watched ships come in, and rode the merry-go-round. 

Race had fun watching us ride.

It was a fun time and I was glad the kids got to see Downtown San Diego!